Hook for attaching rider to board sailer

ABSTRACT

A quick release-hook to be secured to the chest harness of the rider of a board sailer. The hook helps in bracing the sail of the board sailer by engaging a loop of a rope attached to the boom-like rail of the board sailer. The hook (9) pivots from hooking to release position when the rider moves the rope through the hook so that thicker portions of the rope can press abutment members (21), forcing resilient tongue (17) out of engagement with the hook which then pivots, passing through slot (25) between members (21) to release the rope.

This invention relates to apparatus and a method of using the apparatusapplicable to a sport now known as board sailing.

The concept of board sailing is now very well known involving a singlesail with a hull on which the sail through a supporting mast isadjustably supported and the rider controls the craft by standing on thehull and holding the sail by means of a control rail which is secured tothe mast and the sail and extends around these.

The problem to which this invention is related is a difficultyassociated with holding the sail in a required position over a period oftime.

It is common to have a rope attached with respect to the control railand a hook secured by means of a harness to the rider so that when therope is engaged in the hook, a significant amount of the tension can betransferred from the arms to the hook.

The difficulty is that in the event that the rider wishes to release therope from engaging within the hook, he must first release the tensionand thereby relocate the rope from around the tongue of the hook toeffect the release.

In emergency situations, it has been discovered that it can be mostdifficult to provide this first release of tension to ensuredisengagement and indeed in an emergency situation, it is very difficultfor the rider to provide this necessary manoeuvre to provide suchfreeing of the interlocking position of the rope with respect to thehook.

While a number of these manoeuvres can be explained it will beappreciated that in the event of an unexpected gust of wind hitting thesail, this may force the sail over unbalancing and pulling the riderover who then can be pulled down into the sail, thus effectively losinghis balance and generally unable to provide further release of tensionuntil with balance gone he falls into the sail.

This of course can be a difficult if not dangerous situation andillustrates a typical problem to which this invention is directed.

A further problem relates to a difficulty that when a rider is engagedin a racing competition, there is some difficulty in having to disengagethe rope from the block very quickly, and it is conventional that priorto intending to go about, the hook must be disengaged therebyanticipating such a manoeuvre.

In a manoeuvre such as "cover tacking" this can be effective warning tothe competitor that the rider does intend to go about and significantcompetitive advantage can be thereby lost.

The invention in one form can then be said to reside in an arrangementproviding for support assistance of a board sailer sail by a rider wherethis includes a hook secured to the rider, and a rope having endssecured in spaced apart relationship to a control rail providing a loopengaging with the hook, the arrangement being characterised in that ahook member of the hook can be released to a non-hooking position torelease the loop by effecting a selected relative movement of the hookwith respect to the rope loop.

It has been discovered that where as it is very difficult in anyemergency situation to release the tension necessary to have the ropelifted away while under this tension from engagement with the hook, itis extremely common in any difficult situation for there to be relativemovement of the rope with respect to the hook for instance sliding therope through the hook and according to this invention there is thereforeproposed means which effect release of the hooking relationship of therope with the hook upon this occurring.

The invention can reside in a hook so adapted to effect a release whensuch relative motion occurs or it can reside in the combination of arope shaped so as to effect a triggering of a hook with a hook soadapted to effect this release with such circumstances occurring.

While this broader concept can be achieved in many differing ways, thereare particular advantages in providing for a specific arrangement.

The invention then could be said to reside in a hook adapted to besecured to the body of a board sailer rider and including a base, and ahook member secured to the base in such a way that the hook member canbe retained with the base, in either a hooking position or a non-hookingposition, and holding means with the hook adapted to hold the hookmember in a hooking position the hook being characterised in that theholding means are adapted to effect release of the hook member from ahooking position upon inclusion through the hook of a member of greaterthan a selected width.

With such an arrangement, the rope can either be made to have thickerportions and thinner portions so that in a normal hooking position thethinner portion engages the hook whereas with release, the thickerportion is pulled in to the hooking location so as to trigger therelease of the hook member.

The setting of the position of the thicker as compared to thinnerportions of a rope can be well within any rider's discretion.

The invention can further reside in a specific form of the hook so thatthis can reside in a hook adapted to be secured to the rider of a boardsailer at or about his chest and including a base to be held by strapsagainst the chest of this rider and a hook member pivotally supported bythe base member, and holding means constituted by a release lip arrangedto interlock with a portion of the hook member to hold this in a hookingposition, but to be divertable against resilient pressure to allow thehooking member to be released from the hooking position, and resilientmeans to urge the hooking member back into a hooking position afterbeing released therefrom.

If then, one locates a release member in adjacent relationship to thehook then in the event of an accident occurring such as a high windgust, the rider even though tension still exists between the rope andthe hook, without losing balance, shift quickly to one side or anothereffectively pulling the hook in that direction and having this engagethe release member on the rope which in turn then quickly releases thehook from a hooking condition which in turn releases the rope.

Perhaps it can be said that the concept of providing that the hookmember is releasable from a hooking position by relative sidewaysmovement with a held rope is a feature of this invention.

Obviously, it is preferred that the hook be secured to the rider so thatthe one hook can be used on either side of the sail and accordingly, theinvention can reside in an arrangement in which there is a hook securedby harness to a rider and adapted to engage by hooking a rope the endsof which are secured to a control rail of a board sailer, the hook beingadapted to be released from a hooking condition by reason of engagementof trigger means secured to each side of the hook but on or with therope such that by location of the hook with respect to the rope in thevicinity of the release member, this will effect release of the hookfrom a hooking position.

There are obviously differing ways by which the hook can be made to workand of course different ways in which each release member can beadjustably secured and made to provide the release mechanism uponcoincidence of the position of the releases member with the hook.

Preferably the trigger or release means are easily adjusted in positionby the rider during use but at the ame time will hold firm in the eventthat they are engaging the release mechanism on the hook.

For a better understanding of the invention will now be described withthe assistance of drawings in which

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a two people board sailer witha rider using the rope assistance with respect to the hand holdersurrounding the sail of the board sailer,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the assembly according to this preferredembodiment according to this invention showing the Hawaiian Harnessfitted however to a hook showing a rope modified according to thisinvention passing therethrough, and

FIG. 3 is a cross section along the lines of 33 of FIG. 2 withouthowever the straps so as to assist in clarification of the illustration.

Referring in detail to the drawings there is seen a board sailer 1 whichhas a board 2 and a sail 3, the sail having a forewardmost mast 4 andbeing surrounded by a hand holder 5.

The rider 6 has secured around his chest and over his shoulders theHawaiian Harness 7 to which against his chest is located a hook 8.

Adapted to pass through the hook shape and be engaged by the hook member9 of the hook 8 is a rope 10 which is secured at its ends 11 at spacedapart locations on the hand holder 5.

The hook 8 which is adapted to be held against the chest of the rider 6includes a base 12 and outwardly extending tongues 13 between which ispivotally supported the hooking member 9 constituted by a leg oftortuous hook shape which has secured to an upper end thereof cheeks 14through which passes pin 15 around which helical spring 16 engages toprovide resilient positioning of the hook member.

The position of the hook member 9 is governed by support by the pivotalsupport provided by pin 15.

It is also further governed by interlocking relationship of theresilient tongue 17 which in a normal position as is shown in FIG. 3interlocks with end 18 of the hook member 9.

The resilient tongue 17 is secured at its lower end by means of rivetconnection 19 to the base 12.

Secured so as to protrude into the otherwise open hooking space 20 areabutment members 21.

The rope adapted to engage through the hook 8 by reason of itsengagements with the concave portion of hooking member 9 is differentlyshaped so as to be thicker in parts as shown at 22 and 23 as compared toother portions at 24.

Accordingly the distance between the inner side of the concave shape ofhooking member 9 and the outer periphery of member 21 is such that withthe smaller diameter portion of the rope therebetween this will leavethe resilient member 17 which acts as a trigger member in theinterlocking position so as to ensure maintenance of the hookingposition of the hooking member 9 as shown in FIG. 3.

However with the inclusion between the respective members 9 and 21 ofthe wider portion of the rope either 22 or 23, this will cause theresilient member 17 to push away from the interlocking position withrespect to the end 18 of the hooking member 9 which allows this to pivotabout the pivot pin 15 and effect a non-hooking position or at least anon retaining position with respect to a rope under tension actingthrough the hook shape.

There is a slot 25 adapted to allow the end 18 through withoutinterference to pass the member 21.

The spring 16 will automatically return the hooking member 9 to ahooking position by returning the end 18 to an interlocking positionwith respect to the resilient member 17 after release of the tension ofany rope otherwise held within the hooking shape.

With the arrangement described, it will now be appreciated by that byusing a hook according to this invention held by an appropriate harness,allows a rider to be able to automatically and quickly effect a releasein certain situations of the hooking position with respect to therider's body.

The hook mechanism in itself provides for a very economical andpractical way of providing for this mechanism and overall the inventionprovides for a significant improvement in relation to the sport andapparatus for board sailing or like sports including using similardevices for sailing on land and even ice.

I claim:
 1. A quick-release apparatus for attaching a rider to a boardsailer comprising:a base member; a support member extending outwardlyfrom said base member; a hooking member pivotally supported on saidsupport member for rotation in a plane perpendicular to said basemember; said hooking member comprising a latching end portion extendingtoward said base member and a curved hook portion extending away fromand curved back toward said base member; a trigger member comprising atongue fixed to said base member beneath said hooking member and havingone end resiliantly biased outwardly to engage said latching endportion; an abutment member mounted on said trigger member tongue andextending into said hook portion of said hooking member to form a spacedarea therebetween; and a flexible rope means having a center portion ofa diameter smaller than said spaced area and end portions of a diameterlarger than said spaced area, said center portion being adapted toengage said hook portion of said hooking member and be laterallyslidable between said hooking member and said abutment member, wherebylateral movement of said rope means within said spaced area to a postionwhere said larger diameter end portion comes between said hook portionand said abutment member will cause said trigger member to be urgedtoward said base member, thereby disengaging said trigger member fromsaid latching portion and permitting said hook portion of said hookingmember to pivot away from said base member and disengage said ropemeans.
 2. A quick-release apparatus as claimed in claim 1 furthercomprising spring means arranged to resiliently urge said hooking memberinto a hooking position.
 3. A quick-release apparatus as claimed inclaim 2 further comprising a harness adapted to be worn by said rider,said base member being fixed to said harness.
 4. A quick-releaseapparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein said rope means is adapted to befastened at its ends to said board sailer.